On September 3, 2020, the candidates for District 1 -- incumbent Mike Moran and challenger Mark Pienkos -- are scheduled to participate at noon in an online forum presented by Tiger Bay. In advance of the forum, Kim Noyes emailed a request for any questions for the candidates. The three questions below precipitated from discussions among many citizens who care about the future of Sarasota County:
Proposed questions for the District 1 County Commission candidates:
#1. Transfer of Wealth: Certain economists believe that in places where governments are lax in regulating growth - or that encourage rapid growth - evolve social economies that produce ill-conceived land use, excessive density, traffic, and shortage of services. They also see a transfer of property value and quality of life from existing (built-out) areas to the shiny new developments. Agree or disagree?
#2. Sustainable Development: (Follow up to #1) At some point developers run out of room. The inevitable result is they move to greener pastures, leaving behind communities to deal with the impacts from the new residents, roads, services, etc. Even more crucially, a county whose working people have a high dependence on active construction could find itself abandoned by its most crucial economic drivers. What concrete proposals do you bring that would diversify our economy so that when our big developers move on, Sarasota will be assured of a lively balance of well-paying jobs, instead of turning into a Florida version of Kenosha -- a dead town abandoned by its one large industry?
#3. Keep the Country Country: Earlier this month, a 170-year-old community went through the proper channels set out by our Planning Dept. to amend the 2050 Comprehensive Plan.
Their goal at a Planning Commission hearing was to preserve “rural heritage” lands at the far eastern end of Sarasota County (Verna Road in NE County) from leapfrog intensification.
The Planning Commission didn’t simply vote to unanimously deny their proposed CPA (Comp Plan Amendment); it stepped beyond its advisory role to question whether a community even had a right to maintain its way of life. They voted - again unanimously - to write to the County Commission with an inquiry that could end citizens’ right to amend the Comp Plan.
Without getting into the specifics of this proposal, please share your thoughts:
- Should Sarasota County communities be permitted to voice their concerns and aspirations for sustaining their way of life?
- Is a board of appointed industry insiders the appropriate entity to abrogate an established community’s right to sustain its existence?
- Or might this claim to protect Sarasota from “chaos” and property right litigation simply exemplify the development sector's overreaching pursuit of unregulated acquisition and development for private profit?
